[caption id="attachment_2461" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Western Illinois running back J.C. Baker (38) scores a touchdown in a game last season. (John Lovretta/The Hawk Eye)"][/caption]
MACOMB, Ill. — This is about J.C. Baker, but he doesn’t want that.
He doesn’t like to be interviewed. He doesn’t like the recorders, or the microphones, or the cameras.
He’s not a bad guy. He’s always polite, a smile and a laugh that makes everyone else smile and laugh. He’ll answer the questions, without the cliches, with the thoughtfulness of a bright young man who came to a place where he never thought he would be, in a situation he never thought he would be in, and then grabbed every moment because it’s the best thing to happen to him.
Oh, he’s good at the interviews. But he doesn’t want to be.
He would rather just be a running back on Western Illinois University’s football team. He doesn’t want to be a face of the program.
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to people wanting to know something about me, with a camera in my face or a tape recorder in my face, because I just play football, and I love being here,” Baker said. “So when somebody wants to single me out and say, ‘Why are you this good?’ or ‘What can you do to be better?’, I’d rather have (running back) Nikko (Watson) answer that, or (quarterback) Trenton (Norvell) answer that, or (linebacker) J.J. (Raffelson), one of those guys. I just want to go out there and play football.
“The interviews, the stats, I couldn’t care less about that stuff.”
Baker was the last player added to Western Illinois’ roster last season, arriving on campus hours before the first practice. He finished the season with 1,149 rushing yards, third-best in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, and had seven 100-yard rushing games.
He went from being an unknown to being a guy who was always there for the questions after the game. But he didn’t want to be there. He wanted to just enjoy the chance he was given.
Let someone else talk.
“He knows his role is one role of many on the team,” said Western Illinois coach Bob Nielson. “That’s how he approaches what he does.”
“He’s one of the more humble kids I’ve been around,” said offensive coordinator Ted Schlafke. “He’s got a lot of personality, but he’s got to feel comfortable.”
“He’s not always a vocal guy,” said A.J. Blazek, the Leathernecks’ offensive line coach and running game coordinator. “He’s not a confident guy all the time. But he knows the team needs to see him that way. So it’s forced him to carry himself that way.
“And it’s made him a better player.”
And it has made him the reluctant star.
•••
It was a hot July afternoon when Baker entered the athletics communications offices at Western Illinois.
He was early for the interview — he apologized when his phone alarm, set to remind him of the interview, went off five minutes in. It was best for him to get in, get it done, and move on.
“Sorry,” he said as he turned the alarm off. “I wanted to make sure I woke up from my nap in time.”
And then he laughed. Back to the interview, because then it will be over soon.
He is asked about the summer — more than 80 Leathernecks stayed on campus to work out — and Baker was one of the leaders in those workouts.
“I just want to get to know my teammates more, outside of football,” Baker said. “I wanted to figure out their pasts, what brought them to Western Illinois, what motivates them. Anything I could do to get a deeper bond with my teammates.
“It’s a struggle being away from home. But you know, if you’re out here with your boys, it’s a good thing.”
Baker had never played football outside of Arizona, so the brutal Midwest winter had gotten to him.
“That winter was probably the worst time of my life,” Baker said. “I had never seen snow before I came up to Illinois.”
Even the polar leftovers at the beginning of spring practice — when the Leathernecks were working on the field before the sun came up — weren’t fun.
“It was definitely a shock,” Baker said. “But I looked at the positives — my education is getting paid for, and playing football and not being on the couch anymore. So I took that as a blessing.”
That’s why he didn’t mind being up at 5 a.m.
“Because if I can’t get up that early for something I love, how am I going to get up for a job when I get out of college?” Baker said. “That’s how I approached it.”
Everyone around him learned to appreciate that.
“I tell you what,” Blazek said. “He means a lot, not only to the team, because he has such a positive vibe and he’s here every day, he’s early, he’s become a really good vocal leader. For me, personally, he’s an awesome person.”
“He didn’t talk to anybody for the first two weeks of fall camp a year ago,” Schlafke said. “Then he started talking a bit and I was like, ‘Wow, what’s gotten into this kid?’ That’s how he is. Pretty tight to the vest.
“But once he’s comfortable, he’s pretty out there.”
“He’s like an onion,” linebacker Kevin Kintzel said. “When he got here, very quiet guy, stayed to himself. Peel the layers back, you get a little closer to him. By 5 a.m. running in the offseason, you couldn’t shut the dude up. Not a sip of coffee, not a single energy drink, but he was there. I’m rubbing my eyes, and he’s jumping around with energy, trying to wake everybody up.
“Dude’s a little firecracker.”
[caption id="attachment_2462" align="aligncenter" width="231" caption="Baker signed with the Leathernecks just before the beginning of fall camp last season. (John Gaines/The Hawk Eye)"][/caption]
•••
So how does a running back from Yuma, Ariz., get to Western Illinois?
“A 26-hour car ride,” Baker said. “We split it up over three days, though.”
Baker didn’t mind the voyage. He was just glad to be playing somewhere, anywhere, and what mode of transportation got him there was the least of his worries.
He rushed for 405 yards at Arizona Western College as a sophomore, and had a three-game stretch in which he scored five touchdowns.
Arizona Western coach Tom Minnick tried to get NCAA Division I schools to give Baker a chance.
The one problem was Baker is only 5-foot-8.
“People backed off because he was short,” Minnick said. “Shoot, we tried to get Northern Arizona, here in the state, to get on him. We even tried to get him as a walk-on, and they weren’t interested.
“People would call, and I would say, ‘We’ve got this running back.’ And they would say, ‘Oh, we’re not looking for one,’ or ‘He’s kind of small.’”
The season ended, and Baker tried to get someone to look at him.
“Sent out emails, sent out my highlight tape,” he said.
There would be some interest that would always seem to fall through. Baker said two schools in the Missouri Valley Football Conference — North Dakota State and Indiana State — took a look, and went with other options.
“I think it was because I was at a junior college,” Baker said. “People thought I had attitude problems. My grades were there, I qualified out of high school. My tape looked decent.”
The lack of attention bothered Minnick, too.
“I was worried,” Minnick said. “Because he deserved to be playing at a higher level, and no one was interested.”
Western Illinois finally called. And Baker signed the papers, and started the long drive to a place he had never seen. He arrived on campus the day before practice started last August.
“Anything to get off the couch,” Baker said. “I was like, ‘Let’s go.’ Finally, finally. It was a long process. Every day you didn’t know if you were going to get a call from a school that wanted you. You would talk to a school that wanted you for a week or two, and things wouldn’t pan out. So finally, when I saw the fax, and got the papers in, I was excited — it was a great day.”
There was satisfaction, then, when Baker had his brilliant first season with the Leathernecks.
“Some guys called me and said, ‘Where did you get this running back?’” Minnick said. “I said, ‘Hey, you guys didn’t listen. You thought he was short, you watched him in practice, thought he was too short.’ That’s how some people are.
“Some guys, some of the recruiters, all they want are the big kids. You recommend a kid as a good football player — he’s a good football player. Yeah, they want this guy or this guy or this guy. They didn’t realize he was a good football player.”
“I’ll be the first to admit — he was an overlooked guy, but a guy we felt who could be a great player,” Nielson said. “He certainly exceeded initial expectations on how he came in and the impact he made. He’s a little bit undersized. But if you’re undersized, you have to make up for it with speed and the ability to make people miss, and he’s got those two things.”
“He does really well the things guys who don’t have certain physical traits have to do,” Schlafke said. “He’s got great vision. He’s a very smart football player. He’s a guy that if he was six feet tall, he’d be in the Big Ten. He’s that talented, he’s just a little undersized. For us, we would rather have a guy who has the ability. He’s short, but there’s worse things you can get in a running back than being a little short.”
•••
Watson was supposed to be the featured back in the Leathernecks’ offense last season. He was the power back who had emerged as a freshman.
Baker was the speed back, the perfect complement. And he was OK with that.
“I had to be patient with the process,” Baker said. “There are just going to be guys who get playing time before you, because they’ve been there longer. I realized that with Nikko. I just made sure I prepared week in and week out to be the starting running back, and made sure if my number was called, I would be ready. If I get three reps, they were going to be the best three reps anyone saw. I just tried to be patient with it. I wanted to help Nikko, try to push him. I feel like I’m a pretty good running back, so if he’s beating me out, then that’s the best running back we have.”
Watson appreciated that.
“He makes me better,” Watson said. “If he’s going 110 (percent), that’s how I plan on doing that. Everything J.C. does, I want to do better. And he does the same. We’re competing, every day. Every day at practice, I make him better, he makes me better.”
It’s a competition, without animosity.
“He’s my brother,” Baker said.
Watson, normally reserved, was asked about their different personalities.
“J.C.’s personality is great,” Watson said. “He’s always happy, always smiling. He’s like a little brother to me. I’m like the older brother — I’m goofy sometimes — but he’s always just ready to go.”
And Baker had to be ready to go when Watson fell ill midway through the season and had to be hospitalized.
“That’s my brother right there,” Baker said. “Seeing him go down, that was hard on me, because from day one he helped me learn the system. And he has a lot of experience here, so I look at him as the starter.”
“He works his butt off all the time,” Schlafke said. “He learned it fast, he did his job. His personality came out when he felt comfortable, and he didn’t feel comfortable until he was a major part contributing. But he works hard.”
“He was a guy we brought in for depth, he was a guy we got late,” Blazek said. “It worked out for him, because he was looking for a Division I school. It worked out for us, because we needed a running back. He’s the guy that proves Coach Nielson’s theory — we’re going to put the 11 best guys on the field, I don’t care if you’re a walk-on, I don’t care if you’re a scholarship (player), I don’t care if you’re a transfer. He is the epitome of that.”
The plan is to use both running backs extensively this season. There will be times they’ll be on the field together.
“It’s definitely good,” Watson said. “Ever since I’ve been here, it’s always been a two-back system. It’s positive on me and him. Nowadays you have to two backs in this league. I think we are capable of getting a thousand yards (each).”
“If he’s on the field, that makes my job easier,” Baker said.
He pauses, then smiles.
“Because he’s bigger than me,” Baker said.
•••
It’s media day.
It’s torture.
Of course, Baker is going to be one of the players brought into the Hall of Fame Room at Western Hall in early August.
Of course, he doesn’t want to be there.
So until it was his turn to talk, he sat in a chair listening to the other players, occasionally leaning forward and putting his head in his hands.
“It’s good for him to face the limelight,” Blazek said later with a smile. “Part of growing up.”
Baker walked to the podium when it was his turn to talk. For a moment, he is hidden behind the microphone that had been adjusted by the previous speaker, the 6-5 Norvell.
Baker stares at the microphone.
“Do you want me to fix that?” said Pat Osterman, the director of athletic communications.
Baker tries to stop a laugh.
“Yes. Please,” Baker said, with perfect comedic timing.
And then he couldn’t help but laugh with everyone else.
But he wanted to get this over with, so for the next 4 minutes and 15 seconds he answered all of the questions that can come up on a media day.
Someone asked him if he was in line to have a “breakout season.”
“I feel like the football side will take care of itself,” he said. “You’ve got to be a man, and be about your business. When you’re a child, you’re always looking for a reward or something.
“A man, he’s just looking for the next task.”
Finally, he is asked about his “infectious personality.”
“Thank you for saying that,” Baker said. “This stuff like here, for the media, makes me extremely nervous. But you know, I’m just excited to be here.
“This is easy. I can come out here and smile for the camera a little bit, and play football. I’m excited.”
Soon, it’s done. Baker walks away, laughing, and slaps hands with teammates. He sits down for a moment, and mutters with a nervous chuckle.
“I couldn’t have done that for much longer,” he sighs.
•••
He is nearing the end of the one-on-one interview in July.
It seems like Baker could talk all day, but yet you know that’s not the case.
He is asked why everything seems fun to him.
“I am truly, truly blessed to be here at 22 years old. I’m healthy, my family is healthy, and to play the sport I grew up loving and I’m still playing it, and I look at all of the guys at home who aren’t playing, but still wish they were playing ... I mean, this is the easy part,” Baker said. “I’m doing something I love. I do feel like I’m truly blessed to be in a situation to where I can play college football, I can be around a bunch of guys and help give them life lessons that I’ve been through, and help them grow as people, and get life lessons from the coaches.”
So, yeah, this is why he grabs at every moment and enjoys it. Why he never stops smiling, or laughing, or talking.
He is told that the interview went well. He disagrees with a grin and chuckle and a shake of the head, and after shaking hands and saying ‘Thank you,” walks out the door to go be with his teammates.
“See you later,” he says, because he knows that he will.
His last words to end the interview linger.
“If I leave the program, and the program is better off than it was when I got here, then I feel satisfied,” Baker said. “If I can leave anything with the program ... I don’t want a legacy. The best thing for this program is for J.C. Baker to not be remembered. I don’t want to be in the record books. I don’t want them to say, ‘When J.C. was here, this team was great.’ I want to leave the program to where it’s great every year.”
You get the feeling no one could have said it any better.

4 users commented in " Sunday blog: Baker would rather stay out of the spotlight "

Anybody who sat wit J.C.’s parents and watched him play at Yuma High or at AWC will tell you that J.C. is a special person and a player. I can tell you that J.C. has worked for everything he has, and his work ethic is instilled in him by great parenting.

As a Soccer Coach at AWC, I can say I would love to have 11 players on the pitch with the same work ethic and mentality of J.C. As a Soccer Coach at a rival high school in Yuma, J.C. and I will always joke with one another about how our schools are superior with a smile and respect for one another. I look forward to whatever God has planned for J.C. in the future.

Truly one of the nicest players I have dealt with in my time covering college football.

Cedric Baker said,

in August 26th, 2014 at 10:56 am

Good morning,
First I’d like to say thank you to everyone that has said kind words about our son JC Baker, it really means a lot to get great feedback from others that have encountered him as he goes out into the world! To this point in his life, JC has shown great maturity and decision making skills and while Rachel and I are very happy with his football success, believe me when I say we’ll be the proudest parents in the world when he walks across the stage and “Flip the Tassel” on 20 December 2014; a College Degree and solid education can never be taking away from you. JC realized at an early age that he’s a role model for his younger brother (Cedric) and takes that responsibilty very seriously, maybe in the future he’ll have an even bigger platform to be a positive influence! Continued success JC, we love you!!

PS: Everyone, I’m using my “Daddy rights” to let you in on a secret… If you are wondering, the JC stands for Jimmie Cassie (He hates that!) but Rachel and I think it’s a cool name!